Cranberries are gorgeous, red, tart, tiny, and plump. This is a seasonal berry found in North America and popular at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. Cranberries resemble and are related to karondas (carissa carandas), which are widely relished in India in pickles and curries. Cranberries are definitely more sour than karondas and taste more like kokum or amsool. Amsool (garcinia indica) is often added to lentils and leafy green curries in Maharashtra, not only for its tartness but also for its cooling properties. Similarly, cranberries have loads of nutritional and health benefits especially in healing urinary tract infections.

I have been making cranberry sauce maybe once or twice a year for Thanksgiving or Christmas but have always wanted to make a saar with it. Saars are fairly common in Maharastrian cuisine and are served as warm appetizing drinks or as light accompaniments with rice. They can be made with or without adding coconut milk and are made from a sour ingredient, such as tamarind, tomato or kokum. I have been wanting to experiment with a cranberry saar for a while and eventually made it with delicious results.

Aai and Baba (my parents) both love slurping on their tomato saar and it is made at least weekly in her kitchen. The kokum saar is not made as often but definitely makes an appearance if someone has an upset tummy. Aai always adds coconut to the tomato saar but never to the kokum saar, I think it’s how she likes them.

Step by Step

1. Wash 1 cup fresh cranberries and set them to boil in a pan with 1 cup water.
2. Allow all the cranberries to pop and break open, the water will become a lovely red color.
3. Allow to cool and then run through a blender.
4. Strain the mix through a sieve and squeeze all the liquid by pressing on the sieve with the back of a spoon, discard the seed and peels.
5. Heat a pan and add 1 tsp ghee (preferably) or oil (if you want to make it vegan).
6. Add cumin seeds and allow them to crackle.
7. Add asafetida, sliced fresh green chillies and curry leaves.
8. Pour the cranberry liquid into the pan and bring to a slow boil.
9. Add the coconut milk, salt and sugar to taste .
10. Cover and allow the saar to simmer for 3-4 minutes.

Some Tips

You can adjust the amount of coconut milk based on how coconutty you like your saars. Similarly, adjust the amount of salt and sugar to your taste.

You can skip the green chillies and add red chili powder or crushed red chili flakes instead.

Also, if you do not have fresh curry leaves you can skip those and increase the amount of asafetida instead to bring more flavor.